Fully preserved hard coal Kleinzeche near Witten-Herbede, the last of its kind in the Ruhr, with surviving headframe, compressor house, and track visible within the Bergbauwanderweg Muttental.
The Kleinzeche Egbert, sited in a wooded valley near Witten-Herbede, holds the distinction of being the last Kleinzeche to operate in the Ruhr coalfield. Such small-scale workings had been characteristic of the Muttental area since the eighteenth century, exploiting the thin, steeply dipping seams of the southern Ruhr with workforces of only a handful of men. The Egbert mine began operations in 1962, extracting hard coal from the seams Kreftenscheer, Geitling, and Mausegatt to a depth of 135 metres, with drainage handled through an existing Erbstollen discharging into the Ruhr.
The peak annual output of nearly 5,000 tonnes was recorded in 1968 with nine employees; total output across the mine's life was approximately 40,000 tonnes. On 22 June 1976 production ceased, ending coal mining in the Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis. The surface plant — headframe, compressor house, Haspelbude, and rail track — survives intact.
The site was restored between 1976 and 1982 and integrated into the historischen Bergbauwanderweg Muttental and the Route der Industriekultur.
Small-scale coal mining in the area around Herbede south of Witten reaches back to at least the eighteenth century, when Kleinzechen exploiting the Flöze of the Muttental and adjacent valleys supplied coal to the smithies of the Bergisches Land and the Hammerwerke of the Ennepe valley. These workings employed no more than a handful of men and relied on Stollenbetrieb rather than Tiefbau, making use of the topography to drain Grubenwasser naturally into the valleys. The tradition of Kleinzechen persisted through the industrial era and was briefly revived around the First and Second World Wars when larger collieries could not supply local demand.
The Kleinzeche Egbert was begun in 1962, a period by which the general Kohlenkrise in the Ruhr had already initiated structural change across the coalfield. The timing was exceptional: while larger collieries were closing, a new Kleinzeche was being opened in a quiet Bachtal near Herbede. The mine exploited the seams Kreftenscheer, Geitling, and Mausegatt, all characteristic of the southern Ruhr's steeply dipping geological profile, reaching a final depth of 135 metres. The workforce at any one time did not exceed ten Kumpel, and was typically around six. Grubenwasser drained naturally through an Erbstollen into the nearby Hammertal and thence to the Ruhr, so that no mechanical Wasserhaltung in the tonnlägigen Förderschacht was required — a significant operational economy. The coal was supplied to a local power station (Kraftwerk). Each miner produced up to two tonnes of coal per working day, a rate comparable to that of modern mechanised collieries.
The peak performance year was 1968, when nine employees raised nearly 5,000 tonnes. Total output over the mine's operational life was approximately 40,000 tonnes. The mine closed on 22 June 1976, fourteen years after its opening, and with its closure the coal-mining industry in the Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis came to an end. Egbert was at that point the last active Kleinzeche in the Ruhr coalfield.
Following the closure of the Förderung, the surface buildings were restored between 1976 and 1982 as part of a wider initiative to preserve the Muttental's exceptional concentration of early mining remains. The initiative was led by the former Steiger Werner Rathey, whose advocacy resulted in 1982 in the foundation of the Förderverein Bergbauhistorischer Stätten Ruhrrevier with the support of the then Oberbürgermeister of Witten, Klaus Lohmann. The Förderverein's mission is to maintain, restore, and interpret the surviving bergbauliche Zeugnisse of the valley for visitors. The surface plant of the Kleinzeche Egbert — comprising the Fördergerüst, Kompressorhaus, Haspelbude, and Gleisanlagen — survives largely intact and is listed under Denkmalschutz. The site was integrated into the approximately nine-kilometre historischen Bergbauwanderweg Muttental, which was created from 1972 and completed in 1977, and is also a designated stop on the Route der Industriekultur (Themenroute 11, Frühe Industrialisierung). The site is permanently accessible from the exterior but lies approximately ten minutes on foot through woodland from the nearest road, reachable from a car park off the Kämpenstraße.